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Two games. No wins. One
goal. One point. And little
hope for improvement.
Argentina’s Copa America
campaign kicked off last week
in predictably underwhelming
fashion, leaving the nation on
the verge of what would be a
humiliating, disastrous first
round exit.

Last Saturday’s 2-0 reverse
at the hands of Colombia was
followed on Wednesday by
another disappointment, even
if VAR and Lionel Messi prevented catastrophe. The Albiceleste nevertheless found no
way past a Paraguay side
which is also in the process of
rebuilding under a coach that
has attracted fierce criticism
during his short time in the
post.

Eduardo Berizzo, like his
opposite number, Argentina’s
Lionel Scaloni, started his professional playing career with
Newell’s Old Boys; perhaps for
that reason he decided to go
easy on the beleaguered rookie. Paraguay certainly seemed to have the game in the
palm of their hand after Miguel Almirón’s brilliant dash
down the left wing culminated
in the side’s opening goal, but
lowered the tempo and
allowed Argentina to work
their way back into contention.

The introduction of Sergio
Agüero alongside forward
pair Lionel Messi and Lautaro
Martínez at half time added
menace in attack, but even so
Argentina were left depending on a rather fortunate
stroke of fate to get back into
the game. Martínez’s rasping
shot took a deflection off a Paraguayan hand as it clattered
against the crossbar, and
upon further review a penalty
was awarded and converted
with customary calm by the
Albiceleste captain.

Scaloni’s men were now
even on top, but having made
the breakthrough with the
addition of an extra striker the
coach left an entire nation
scratching its head by
promptly removing Lautaro
from the action. “I was fine to
continue but that is the coach’s
decision,” the Inter youngster
fumed after the game, contradicting Scaloni’s assertions
that the substitution owed to
a physical complaint. Argentina were then extremely fortunate not to fall behind for a
second time, Franco Armani
coming up big to save a penalty and Nicolás Otamendi’s
blushes after the defender gave away the kick with a hideously clumsy challenge
from behind in the area.

Just when Paraguay were
poised to go on and take all
three points, Berizzo shut up
shop, adding an extra defender to his line-up to play
out for a draw. It gave
Argentina a certain respite, but not much: fail
to win against Qatar
tomorrow and their
Copa America campaign is almost
certainly over,
and to judge
b y t h e
perfor -
mances
shown
in those
first t wo
games that is far
from a foregone
conclusion.

The men, of course, were not the only
Argentina team in
action. Results may not have
been much better, but the
commitment and drive shown
by the Albiceleste Women’s
squad in the World Cup have
put their more illustrious colleagues to shame.

Just hours before Messi and
Co. were held to that tedious
draw, in Paris there was not a
dry eye left in the house as a
last-minute penalty sealed
Argentina’s famous comeback from three goals down to
take a point against Scotland.

This group of amateurs, with
goalkeeper Vanina Correa the
only survivor from their last
World Cup appearance in
2007, may have ultimately
missed out on the last 16 despite that memorable draw, but
they caused a sensation
among football fans, many of
whom tuned into women’s
football for the first time to
watch their exploits.

One thing is for sure. The
team coached by Carlos Borello has so far left a far more
positive image than Scaloni’s
stragglers, who nevertheless have one more
chance to redeem
themselves. Judging by their prev ious ef for ts,
though, it would
be no surprise to
see another elimin a t i o n
t h a t
would
cons -
t it ute
humi -
liation
for a side
who reached the
final in the
l a s t t w o
Copas.